Man Drowns in Lake Mead Recreation Area After Struggling to Swim to Boat

A man has drowned in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area after struggling to swim back to his boat.

Rangers from the National Park Service (NPS) recovered the 44-year-old's body near Cottonwood Cove in Lake Mohave, in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on September 3 at 11 a.m., the service said in a statement.

Lake Mohave is a reservoir in Cottonwood Valley, on the Colorado River, formed by the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam. It lies on the Nevada-Arizona border and feeds into the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, a popular tourist destination for swimming and boating.

Emergency services were first called to the area on September 2, when a visitor spotted the drowning victim in the water, struggling to swim.

The man had been attempting to swim back to a boat, and was not wearing a flotation device, the NPS said in a statement.

Other boat passengers threw life jackets overboard to the man but he was unable to grab them.

The NPS dive team attempted to retrieve the victim later, but heavy winds forced them to halt the search. They recovered the victim's body the next day.

An investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Newsweek has contacted the NPS for any updates.

Lake Mead has drawn national attention recently due to its rapidly dropping water levels. The reservoir is affected by the megadrought in the southwestern United States. But this is not the only reason for it making headlines.

As the water levels continue to drop, the NPS and police have discovered a multitude of human remains in Lake Mead.

Most of these are not recent. In May, police found human remains concealed in a barrel. They are thought to be those of a victim of a possible mob shooting from the mid-1970s to 1980s.

Since its construction in the 1930s, the Lake Mead recreation area has gained a reputation for being one of America's deadliest national parks.

Around 300 people have drowned in the reservoir since the 1930s. Research conducted by Outside Magazine found that on average, there are 25 deaths per year at the national park.

This figure is on top of any other bodies that died from other means that may be in the lake. The Lake Mead National Recreation Area also has the most homicides of any national park.

Volunteers work to search for the remains of those that went missing and were never found.

Although the lake's blue waters are tempting to visitors, particularly in hot temperatures, it is vast and deep.

Lake Mohave is 100 feet deep and covers around 28 surface acres, according to the NPS.

Visitors often underestimate the depth of the water and how far it can be to swim from one point to the other.